A review of the weekend's action in the French Ligue 1.

Monaco cut Paris St Germain's lead at the top of Ligue 1 to just three points on Sunday night as they claimed derby honours against Marseille at the Stade Louis II.

Claudio Ranieri's side may have to cope without injured Colombian striker Radamel Falcao for the rest of the season due to his knee injury, but even in his absence they had enough firepower to finish off their off-form visitors.

Monaco won 2-0, with Valere Germain netting a classy opener after a burst from the left flank in the 41st minute and Emmanuel Riviere adding the second goal after 57 minutes.

PSG had stuttered on Saturday night, being held 1-1 by Guingamp.

Alex rescued the leaders from a second defeat in three days as the Brazilian defender's late goal earned a 1-1 draw at Guingamp.

The Ligue 1 leaders were knocked out of the Coupe de France by Montpellier in midweek, and another loss looked to be on the cards on Saturday when they fell behind to a Mustapha Yatabare strike in the 84th minute.

However, former Chelsea man Alex struck four minutes later to secure a result which takes PSG to six matches unbeaten in the league.

Meanwhile, Bordeaux got over their humiliating midweek Coupe de France defeat to L'Ile Rousse with an impressive 2-0 win against St Etienne at Stade Chaban-Delmas.

Following that embarrassing exit, the home fans demanded a response and goals from Abdou Traore and Brazilian defender Henrique helped appease the disgruntled Bordeaux faithful.

Lyon made it three Ligue 1 wins in a row for the first time this season with a comfortable 3-0 defeat of 10-man Evian at the Stade Gerland.

Bafetimbi Gomis scored his eighth goal of the season to set the hosts on their way before Alexandre Lacazette effectively wrapped up all three points with goals either side of the break to move the former champions to fifth - their highest league position since September.

Montpellier capped a fine week with an impressive 3-1 win over Nice.

Having been in the midst of a relegation scrap a week ago, Rolland Courbis' men have since beaten Sochaux in the league, Paris St Germain in the cup and now in-form Nice.

M'baye Niang and Hilton had put them 2-0 up before Nice eventually stirred through substitute Alexy Bosetti, but Souleymane Camara wrapped things up late on.

Nantes and Reims played out a goalless stalemate on Saturday that maintains both teams' unlikely assault on the top six.

Reims' Odair Fortes came closest to winning a low-key encounter with a shot that was tipped onto the bar in the first half, but in the final analysis a draw was a fair result for both sides.

Valenciennes claimed a point against Lorient in the 1-1 draw at the Stade du Hainaut.

Saliou Ciss' 39th-minute own goal had given Lorient the lead but Gregory Pujol netted the equaliser for the home side shortly after the break to claim a vital point.

The result leaves Valenciennes third bottom of the overall standings on 18 points, three adrift of safety.

Benjamin Andre got Ajaccio off to the perfect start in the eighth minute when he beat goalkeeper Simon Pouplin at the far post, and the Corsican side looked to have claimed their second win of the season until Nogueira levelled in the 93rd minute.

The result keeps Ajaccio two points behind Sochaux, who are in turn nine points from safety.

On Friday, Lille were unable to make the most of an opportunity to close the gap on second-placed Monaco with a disappointing 1-1 draw at home to Rennes.

Salomon Kalou fired the hosts into an early lead under the closed roof of the Stade Pierre-Mauroy, but the hosts' joy was cut short when Abdoulaye Doucoure levelled just seven minutes later.